Introduction and Background

Las Voces de las Mujeres de Xelajú is part of an ongoing project to bring the voices of women of Latin America to students of Spanish. Videotaped interviews, conducted in 2003 with 20 women from Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, present the views, values, and choices of women of many ages (10 to 78), backgrounds, and professions.

Each woman was asked the same set of seven open-ended questions in Spanish:

1. Introducción. Introduction, description of family, profession, personality

2. ¿Cuáles son las tres cosas más importantes en su vida? ¿Por qué son importantes?
What are the three most important things in your life, and why are they important?

3. ¿Qué problemas tiene en su vida? ¿Qué hace para resolverlos?
What problems do you have? How are you trying to resolve these problems?

4. ¿Cuáles son los valores más importantes que aprendió Ud. de su madre? ¿Cómo pasa estos valores a otras personas?
What values did you learn from your mother? How do you pass these values to others?

5. ¿Hay una experiencia que me pueda contar que tuvo un impacto fuerte en su vida?
Is there an experience you can tell me about that had a strong impact on your life?

6. ¿Qué espera para su futuro? ¿el futuro de su familia? ¿el futuro de su país?
What do you hope for your own future? the future of your family? the future of your country?

7. Si tuviera la oportunidad de hacer cualquier cosa, no importa el dinero, ¿Qué haría?
If you could do anything, and money didn't matter, what would you do?

Las Voces project uses an ethnographic approach to listening. Blair E. Bateman (2002) eloquently sums up the goal of ethnographic interviews which is shared by this project:
"Besides providing insight into the interviewees' culture, ethnographic interviews have the potential to help students learn about themselves. As they come to understand the point of view of an individual from another culture, students become aware of aspects of their own culture that are often invisible until seen in contrast with other cultures. They learn that there are ways of looking at the world besides their own, and begin to comprehend how they are seen by others. This understanding can lead students to a fuller awareness of their own culture and how it influences the way they see the world" (p. 321).

These listening materials are different from most recorded interviews in that they provide students with many voices answering the same set of questions. Responses contain many of the same vocabulary words and structures, which provides repetition and restatement in listening practice. With the convenience of DVD technology and segmented videoclips, students can select which women, or which questions and responses, to listen to. They can also replay parts of a response multiple times and relocate clips easily.

Why women's voices? The voices heard in the media from Latin America are overwhelmingly male voices. Women carry the principle responsibility to socialize their children, and therefore are rich sources of cultural views and information. In my travels, I have found that many women in Latin America are willing to share their views and experiences with me, and through my video camera, with my students. They are pleased that someone cares about what they have to say. Their sincerity and candor in expressing their views provides students with a rich source of both authentic language and cultural insights. This project is possible because these women have opened their hearts and lives by sharing their voices with us. In the summer of 1997, I first visited Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, called Xelajú, meaning "a place surrounded by 10 mountains", en the Mam language, I participated in a program that a student had told me about at Casa Xelajú, a Spanish and K'iche language school that also has a community outreach program in which students can volunteer. I participated in an afternoon tutoring program for children living in a refugee community on the outskirts of the city, called La Pedrera. It was a wonderful experience, with dedicated, competent teachers of Spanish, a full-time social worker who coordinated El Proyecto la Pedrera, caring homestay families, and many interesting activities and field trips. I met so many interesting women who had lived through the difficult times of the civil war and were filled with hope for the future.

During my graduate studies, I read several articles about an ethnographic approach to language learning (Bateman, Donan, Egan-Robertson & Willit, Robinson-Stuart & Nocon). The idea of students of Spanish conducting interviews with native speakers about different aspects of their culture was a promising approach to teaching listening comprehension and culture together. However, in the state of Hawai'i, there are relatively few Spanish speakers. I decided that technology might help bring the voices of some of the women who I had met to my students.

I bought a digital video camera and took classes in filming, editing, and production from the local cable company. I also purchase a fast computer and digital video editing softare. I returned to Quetzaltenango, and to Casa Xelajú in the summer of 2003. During this visit, I studied K'iche Mayan and set up interviews with the women I met, many of them teachers and staff of Casa Xelajú, or señoras who opened their homes to foreign students. I saw great progress in la Pedrera community and in the educational initiatives by Casa Xelajú and sensed a new level of hope in Quetzaltenango.

I hope that the voices of these women will help students of Spanish to better understand their lives, values, and hopes for the future, and will encourage students to travel and explore Guatemala on their own.

References:

Bateman, B. (2002). Promoting openness toward culture learning: Ethnographic interviews for students of Spanish. The Modern Language Journal, 86, iii, 318-331.

Donan, L. (1997). Students as ethnographers. ERIC: ED415699.

Egan-Robertson, A. and Willett, J. (1998). Students as ethnographers, thinking and doing ethnography: A bibliographic essay. In Students as researchers of culture and language in their own communities. Language and Social Processes Series. Egan Robertson, A. and Bloome, D. Eds. ERIC: ED422153

Robinson-Stuart, G. & Nocon, H. Second culture acquisition: Ethnography in the foreign language classroom. The Modern Language Journal, 80, iv, 431-449.

ActivitiesGuatemala to use with Las Voces

Guatemala links

Introduction and Background.doc
(Download MS Word formatted document)

View more interviews online at Las Voces de las Mujeres online interface hosted by the Language Acquisition Resource Center at San Diego State University

ActivitiesMexico to use with Las Voces online

ActivitiesDonostia to use with Las Voces online

Also visit LARC Digital Media Archive for more Spanish videoclips.